The penny costs nearly 4 cents to make. Here’s how much the US spends on minting its other coins

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NEW YORK (AP) — The impending “death” of the U.S. penny has spotlighted the coin’s own price tag — nearly 4 cents to make and distribute each, or quadruple its value.

https://apnews.com/article/cost-of-a-penny-nickel-dime-e38975c6811ad38ac0a986c8fccf3a4a?

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? 1 for the road: Auction for last pennies

These final pennies will fetch more than their face value. Rendering: U.S. Mint

Stack's Bowers Galleries of Costa Mesa, Calif., has been chosen by the U.S. Mint to auction some of the final pennies struck at the Philadelphia U.S. Mint earlier this month, Axios Philadelphia's Mike D'Onofrio reports. "Each of these coins exhibits a small Ω privy mark of the final Greek letter Omega, indicating their role as the capstone to a two-centuries-long legacy that first began in 1793," the announcement says. The 232 sets of pennies could fetch a small fortune, with estimates ranging from $45,000 to $5 million each, per USA Today. Each three-penny set includes two circulating pennies — one each from the Mint's facilities in Philly and Denver — and a 24-karat gold uncirculated penny minted in Philly. The live auction begins Dec. 11. More on the auction ...

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? 1 for the road: $800,000 penny

Photo: U.S. Mint

Bidders doled out top dollar to get their hands on some of the final circulating pennies during yesterday's auction, held by California-based Stack's Bowers Galleries. One of the 232 three-coin penny sets sold for $800,000. Another set fetched $200,000, Axios Philadelphia's Mike D'Onofrio reports. Zoom in: Each set included two circulating pennies — one each from the Mint's facilities in Philadelphia and Denver — and a 24-karat gold uncirculated penny minted in Philly. The Philadelphia mint struck the final circulating one-cent coins in November.

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Rounding era

Illustration: Maura Kearns/Axios Some states are setting rounding guidance for cash purchases involving increasingly hard-to-find pennies, AP reports. The U.S. Mint stopped making pennies last year, with President Trump citing wasteful spending. Each 1-cent coin cost 3.7 cents to make. That led to a big shortage. 🛒 One solution: Rounding purchases to the nearest nickel. For example: $1.91 or $1.92 becomes $1.90, while $1.98 or $1.99 becomes $2. 🏛️ A bill introduced last year in Congress would apply that "symmetrical rounding" practice nationwide. In the meantime, penny-rounding bills await the governor's signature in Arizona, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington. 💰 Yes, but: If prices are rounded up more often than down, consumers could lose millions of dollars. Go deeper.